Panel nod to dedicated data cloud for civic body

TNN | Updated: Sep 21, 2016, 5:36 IST

(Representative image)

PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation would soon have its own data cloud. The standing committee of the civic body has given a go-ahead for inviting tenders from private firms for managing civic data and the cloud. The administration stressed providing services through e-governance and m-governance platforms would be easier with this facility. The corporation would spend around Rs17 lakh per month on this initiative. "The proposal was discussed with the members and was approved. A contract for three years will be signed with the selected firm," Balasheb Bodke, chief of the committee, told reporters. A Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) official said the current set-up is mostly based on local servers. Managing and maintaining them would be difficult in the future. The existing servers are operating at their maximum capacity. The administration would have to buy more servers if more online facilities were to be promoted, he added. "Projects like digital lockers, e-signature, mobile apps and Geographical Information System (GIS) have to be implemented on a large scale and the administration will have to use this technology. If the services have to be provided uninterruptedly, the cloud technology is a must," stated the proposal.

The proposal stated that the administration could avoid the expenses on buying servers and their maintenance if it opted for cloud computing. Even if the number of people using civic services increased, the administration would not have to add manpower for those works. According to NASSCOM, cloud computing can be defined as "dynamically scalable, virtualized information services delivered on-demand over the network in a pay-per-use model". Cloud morphs client-server environment on to internet. It enables businesses to rent compute resources and pay per use. It also allows consumers and employees to engage, work or transact with businesses via any connected device. The cloud computing has also been identified as one of the thrust areas in the proposed National IT Policy.